Firehawk Aerospace一家位于佛罗里达的火箭推进初创公司已宣布关闭200万美元的种子资金回合。
Led by members of theVictorum Capital Club, with further investments fromAchieve CapitalandHarlow Capital Management, the funding will be used to develop the company’s advanced rocket propulsion systems, which rely heavily on 3D printed solid fuel rods.
Firehawk的联合创始人兼首席执行官Will Edwards指出：“ Firehawk Aerospace通过我们获得专利的3D印刷火箭燃料为混合动力火箭发动机增强了新的性能水平。FireHawk Aerospace将提供安全，可靠且负担得起的火箭发动机，以为卫星发射器，导向侦察系统，月球运输系统和载人太空系统的下一代动力提供动力。”
Hybrid propellant rockets
混合火箭的特征是它们使用了两个不同的火箭推进剂相，也就是说，它们既依赖于固体燃料和流体氧化剂。Since the two components generally don’t mix (and form an explosive cocktail) until it’s time for ignition in the chamber, hybrid rockets are a lot less prone to catastrophic failure than their conventional solid or fluid propellant counterparts, and can be shut down easily if needs be. As well as avoiding the common safety hurdles associated with single-state propellant handling, hybrid rockets also tend to be less mechanically complex than liquid-only rocket engines.
The caveat is that hybrid engines often lack in the performance department, despite having propellant densities comparable to those of bi-liquid engines. This is the issue Firehawk is trying to solve with its 3D printed fuel and proprietary engine designs, which reportedly combine the safety of hybrid systems with the capabilities of conventional liquid engines.
安全且可访问的太空旅行
Firehawk开发的先进推进系统最终旨在使更安全，更容易获得的空间探索。令人印象深刻的是，该公司在今年的比赛中进入了前五名的登上决赛选手TechCrunch的启动战场竞赛中断. With VC and tech firms alike believing in the vision, Firehawk will use its newly acquired capital to test its engine + fuel combination at an operational scale, all while growing its government and commercial partnerships, and expanding its manufacturing facilities to states such as Texas and Oklahoma.
James Roller, Managing Partner of Victorum Capital, concludes: “Firehawk Aerospace has developed a major advancement in rocket propulsion technology – providing a safer and more cost-effective solution than other high-performance rocket systems in use today. We are excited to partner with Firehawk as they scale their technology and reshape the aerospace industry.”
With ongoing technological advancements, 3D printing in the aerospace sector has grown to previously unseen adoption rates. Earlier this month,加利福尼亚州3D印刷火箭制造商Relativity Spaceraised5亿美元在其最新一轮D融资中. The recent round took the company’s total cash raised to date to $685M, and its valuation up to a whopping $2.3B.
别处，NASA最近宣布它已经发展3D印刷火箭发动机组件that could be used as part of the Artemis project to return astronauts to the Moon, and prepare for a future mission to Mars. The large-format parts were fabricated using an optimized DED technique, and developed as part of the Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology project (RAMPT).
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特色图片显示Firehawk的3D印刷固体火箭燃料棒。通过Firehawk航空航天照片。
